A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX).
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) was in 35 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. IDXX shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 33 hedge funds in our database with IDXX positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that idxx isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
At the moment there are tons of metrics stock market investors put to use to evaluate their stock investments. A pair of the most useful metrics are hedge fund and insider trading activity. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can beat the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see the details here).
We’re going to take a look at the fresh hedge fund action encompassing IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX).
What does the smart money think about IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 35 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 6% from the second quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards IDXX over the last 13 quarters. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX), which was worth $443.9 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Arrowstreet Capital which amassed $240.3 million worth of shares. Moreover, GLG Partners, Two Sigma Advisors, and Chilton Investment Company were also bullish on IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have jumped into IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) headfirst. Magnetar Capital, managed by Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser, created the biggest position in IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX). Magnetar Capital had $0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management also initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new IDXX investors: Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP, and Ian Simm’s Impax Asset Management.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX). These stocks are CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU), and Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES). This group of stocks’ market values resemble IDXX’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | 45 | 1341366 | 6 |
| TWTR | 42 | 1074408 | 2 |
| LULU | 45 | 1651249 | 4 |
| HES | 37 | 2364508 | 5 |
| Average | 42.25 | 1607883 | 4.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 42.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.61 billion. That figure was $1.19 billion in IDXX’s case. CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) is the least popular one with only 37 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) is even less popular than HES. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
